Osage Valley Lodge A.F.& A.M. #37 - Osawatomie, Kansas - Masonic Temples on Waymarking.com

The Osage Valley Lodge No. 24 of AF & AM was founded in 1858, only four years after Osawatomie was founded. The minutes of the Dec. 1, 1858, meeting recorded that the first officers of the lodge were Worshipful Master Smith A. Squires; H.S. Greeno, senior warden; J.B. Sofield, secretary; S.C. Parrish, treasurer; L.C. Crittenden, senior deacon; D.M. Martin, junior deacon: and Z. Holdrege, tyler. The minutes stated, “That this lodge be known by the name of Osage Valley of A. Free and Accepted Masons.”

The lodge was founded when Osawatomie was a nascent community that was battling both nature and pro-slavery guerillas. Despite the dangers, the lodge was formed and offered the community’s leaders a sense of structure and organization that helped build a foundation that was indispensable during Osawatomie’s early years.

The lodge was founded by business owners who worked to build up both the cultural and economic life of the town. Osawatomie was recovering from the town being looted and burned by John Reid’s pro-slavery guerillas in 1858, and the business owners who formed the lodge were among the community leaders who worked together to rebuilt the town following the Battle of Osawatomie. These courageous men ran businesses and provided essential services for Osawatomie during a time when the town was under constant threat of attack by pro-slavery guerillas.

The brotherhood their Masonic ties created provided a binding agent that helped the men work together to overcome the challenges that faced the citizens of Osawatomie during the town’s early years.

During the Civil War, so many members of the lodge enlisted in the Union Army to fight for their country that the lodge largely went dormant by March of 1860, when the Civil War appeared imminent, and the lodge was reformed on Jan. 11, 1865. Robert Lapsley was the Worshipful Master; W.L.G. Miller, senior warden; S. Underhill, junior warden; H.B. Smith was secretary pro tem; R.W. Shipley was treasurer; C.O. Gause was senior deacon; Amasy Beeson was junior deacon and Daniel Bryant was the tyler. The reformed lodge grew in numbers with Charles Gale, Henry Gale and Oliver Butler seeking membership in the lodge.

The reformed lodge began to grow, and the “Souvenir History of Osage Valley No. 24,” which was published in 1965 states that “Visitors were many, and from distant parts of the country. Osawatomie being the stopping place on the stage line from Kansas City to Fort Scott brought many strangers to this place for a night and the Masonic brethren improved to the opportunity to meet with the Lodge here.”

The founders of the Osage Valley Lodge No. 24 AF & AM helped to provide Osawatomie with leadership, organization and structure at a time that it was desperately needed during the challenges that faced the town during its early years. We owe them a debt of gratitude and respect.